FBI: New Suspects In Bombing Case Disposed Of Evidence To Help Tsarnaev 'Avoid Trouble'

The criminal complaint against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's three college friends says that on April 18 the three men went to Tsarnaev's dorm room, where one took his backpack and computer "to help his friend Tsarnaev avoid trouble" before throwing it in a dumpster.

The complaint notes that the men — Azamat Tazhayakov, Dias Kadyrbayev, and Robel Phillipos — did this after they figured out Tsarnaev was a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.

The complaint says Kadyrbayev, 19, "knew" that Tsarnaev was involved in the bombings when he was in the dorm room:FBI

(Sidenote: The Associated Press points out that in a footnote in the court papers, the FBI says that Tsarnaev told Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev that he knew how to make a bomb months before the bombings.)

After returning from the dorm to an apartment shared by Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev, the two men from Kazakhstan and Phillipos decided to get rid of the items "because they did not want Tsarnaev to get into trouble."

Kadyrbayev, subsequently put the items in a trash bag and threw them in a nearby dumpster, according to the complaint. On April 26 police found the backpack containing the fireworks at a nearby landfill. Here are the fireworks:

FBI

When interviewed by police, Phillipos initially lied to police about visiting the dorm room and the disposal of the items. The 19-year-old American will be charged with willfully making false statements to law enforcement.

FBI

Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev will be charged with "knowingly destroying, concealing, and covering up tangible objects belonging to Tsarnaev, namely, a laptop computer and a backpack containing fireworks, with the intent to impede, obstruct, and influence the criminal investigation of the Marathon bombings."